The CEO

How to Choose -  SHOW NOTESwww.goodbetterright.com.auSeason 2, Episode 8: The CEOTessa Mudge & Ken Smith INTROIn Season 2 of How to Choose, we interview guests who work in a range of different professions to see what they can teach us about decision making in their specific work contexts - and about how they first chose to enter their profession. In this episode we chat to Melodie Potts-Rosevear CEO of Teach For Australia, a not-for-profit organisation. We hear how she went from a small town in the US, where she was the first in her family to go to college, to eventually founding an organisation in a foreign country with the incredibly hard and worthy goal of ending education disadvantage in Australia.KEY TAKEAWAYSSometimes we ignore pathways (perhaps subconsciously) because we don’t know someone else who has been there first. If you don’t have a broad network, deliberately seek out and engage with people in areas that seem interesting to you. Getting to know someone that has chosen a different path to you might make a switch not seem so daunting. Also, if you are in a leadership position, think about who you might be able to mentor or reach out to. ‘You can’t be what you can’t see’ and ‘you can’t try what you don’t know’ apply here.Interviews can be a great way to help you make a decision about your career path. See it as a chance to get to know the culture of the organisation you may be joining. This is your opportunity to interview them, while you’re being interviewed. Sometimes the best decision that you can make, is the decision that keeps your options open. Mel wasn’t sure what she wanted to do after college, so she ended up choosing management consultancy as a way to keep her options open for a while longer. A decision that ultimately led her to start Teach For Australia.As you get more senior, sometimes your decision is actually when to delegate. You need to be able to trust your team and know when you’re not the expert in the room, or when there’s someone who might be better suited to making the decision.Making a decision is only the first step, there is also a ‘doing something’ phase of decision making. Until you take action, all you have is an idea.Finally, Mel talks about leadership as imagining a different reality from what you see and making the decisions that will take others to that place.WHAT TO DO?If you're enjoying the topic of decision making and think our show could help others, please let them know about us. You can find the show on all major podcast apps and players! And come check out our website - www.goodbetterright.com.auIN OUR NEXT EPISODE...In our next episode we hear from Anthony Ricketts,  former British Open squash champion.